Conventional wisdom says as you progress as a leader, you should move away from the details to become more strategic. This is backwards.
Why?
Because being strategic requires systems thinking (seeing how internal and external components of a business connect and influence each other) – and systems thinking is impossible without the details.
Details → Systems Thinking → Breakthrough Strategies
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Personal Example: When my team and I were building Albertsons’ digital in-store advertising business, initial analysis indicated SMBs weren’t viable because their budgets were too constrained for in-store impression volumes.
However, digging into the details provided crucial insights and enabled systems understanding:
→ SMBs had highest advertising value (invisible at shelf vs. competitors; tests proved it)
→ Tech enabled unique opportunities for multiple advertisers (screen partitioning; bundling)
→ Shoppers saw benefit in discovery and usage inspiration-style content
Breakthrough Strategy: Complementary co-brand and product-grid style ads where advertisers share costs while driving high impressions, better shopper experience, and stronger unit economics.
The strategy didn’t come from a 30,000 ft analysis but rather by connecting details across clients, tech, and shopper behavior.
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This pattern appears everywhere. In « Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, » (one of my favorite books on strategy) P&G’s CEO A.G. Lafley shows how Olay’s transformation came from understanding how women actually used and shopped for skincare products, not from high-level brand studies.
Takeaway: Spotting connections between business components leads to strategic creativity, more effective execution, and stronger competitive differentiation. However, you can only spot those connections if you dive into the details.
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What has your experience been?
If you’re wondering how to scale this kind of systems-level intelligence across a team without slipping into micromanagement, I unpack that and more in my Substack essay (link in comments).